Your Right to Know

A Republican lawmaker wants to create a council to find out what problems are plaguing Ohio
women but a Democratic leader calls it “a waste of time and redundant.”

A bill to create the Economic Council on Women, which would look at economic concerns of the
state’s women and come up with recommendations on what can be done to further ensure their success,
passed the House unanimously this month.

“There is increasing recognition in the academic and nonprofit communities that economic
empowering of women is essential in realizing both women’s rights and achieving broader economic
goals,” co-sponsor Nan Baker, R-Westlake, chairwoman of the Economic Development and
Regulatory Reform Committee, said in her testimony.

The topics the council would aim to explore have been left open-ended, Baker said, because she
wanted the women of Ohio to drive the conversation, which is why topics such as pay equality were
not specifically set forth in the bill.

The council would also encourage women to serve on school boards, city councils and commissions,
which Baker said would be a valuable perspective.

“Women have different viewpoints sometimes ... they offer wonderful suggestions we need to hear
more from,” Baker said.

But House Minority Leader Tracy Heard, who voted for the bill, said the economic problems facing
women are already documented by professional organizations and university studies.

“That information exists, tenfold. I’d be more interested in creating a council that would push
that agenda,” Heard said. “We know the answers to the questions this council is supposed to
propose.”

Heard, from Columbus, also said she thought it was a Republican attempt to show the party was
doing things for the women in the state in light of Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Jefferson Township, and
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi holding a rally encouraging women at the Statehouse on June 3.
Democrats often accuse Republicans of waging war on women.

But the economic-council proposal was introduced into the House exactly a week before the rally.
However, Baker said the goal of the council would be to “hear directly from women ... not just read
stats or opinions from other writing about it,” and said she “had no prior knowledge of the Nancy
Pelosi bus tour taking place that morning.”

The council would be made up of 15 members: five appointed by the governor, and including three
each from the Senate and the House, and would be required to meet at least quarterly for five
years.

When asked if Gov. John Kasich thought the council is something Ohio needs, press secretary Rob
Nichols said, “We don’t take a public position on every bill introduced in the General
Assembly."

A Senate committee will take up the bill when the General Assembly returns in the fall. While
women today have more economic and social opportunities than their mothers or grandmothers, Baker
said, more can be done.

“I think we will find a lot of engaging women, but if there are obstacles we want to hear what
they are,” Baker said.